Cowley Road Dining (Gateway from Blackbird Leys)
A short bus ride from Blackbird Leys drops you at the top of Cowley Road, Oxford's most culinarily diverse street and the natural dining destination for Leys residents. Here, within a few hundred metres, you can eat your way around the world.
Where to eat on Cowley Road
Arbequina at 74 Cowley Road is a Spanish-influenced small-plates restaurant that has earned a devoted local following for its wood-fired dishes, excellent natural wines and warm, buzzy atmosphere — book ahead on weekends.
For something more casual, Café Baba on Cowley Road serves generous Lebanese mezze, freshly baked flatbreads and strong cardamom coffee at prices that feel almost impossibly reasonable for Oxford.
The Cowley Road stretch between Tesco and the Plain roundabout is lined with Ethiopian, Thai, Indian and Eritrean restaurants — do a reconnaissance walk before choosing, as new independents open regularly and quality is generally high across the board.
Coffee, bakeries and sweet stops
Handle Bar Café & Bike Workshop is a Cowley Road institution: a cycle-repair workshop and speciality coffee bar combined, where you can sip a single-origin pour-over while your puncture is fixed — a very Oxford experience.
Uhuru Wholefoods, a worker-owned co-operative on Cowley Road, stocks an extraordinary range of organic groceries, bulk pulses and ethical snacks — perfect for assembling a picnic to take back to Blackbird Leys Park.
For dessert, Kazbar's Moroccan-inspired interior and sticky pastry counter are worth a detour even if you only stop for mint tea and a honey-drenched chebakia biscuit.
Cowley Road Dining (Gateway from Blackbird Leys) on video
More of Blackbird Leys
Discover where to stay, what to do and the best deals for your trip.
Explore Blackbird Leys →
